Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Brick’s kitchen looked like a staging area rather than a place to cook. Mixing bowls were lined up, ingredients measured and labeled, and he’d weighted down the handwritten recipe card with a coffee mug as if it might try to escape.
Blaise surveyed it all and smiled at his preparations. It was Friday night, but if he had to walk out the door for the bake-off right this instant, he could. “You’re ready.”
Brick wiped his hands on a towel. “Been ready since yesterday. Checked it over this morning before doing it again now.”
“I figured,” she said with a smirk. “You might be the most prepared man I’ve ever known.”
He let out a quiet laugh. “That’s the Marine in me.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
They went through the list of important things one more time anyway.
What the oven temperature was supposed to be, how long the bake time was, where the cooling racks should go, who’d be transporting the cake to the judges.
Everything they could think of. They eventually arrived at the same conclusion they’d reached ten minutes earlier.
“Well,” Blaise said, clapping her hands together once. “We’re as ready as we can be. That’s that.”
Brick glanced at the clock. “Huh. I thought we’d still be fussing.”
“So did I,” she admitted. Why she’d ever thought this would fluster him was a mystery to her. “But you’ve got this handled.”
He nodded, a mix of relief and nerves flickering across his face. “Guess so.”
Blaise lingered near the counter, then said casually, “Since we’re ahead of schedule… would you want to go out for a bit?”
Brick turned toward her. “Out where?”
“There’s a place called Shooters,” she said.
“Cece’s friend Joe is playing there tonight.
Guitar. Singing. All the other Queen Bees are there with a plus one.
Well, I don’t think Althea and Lester are coming.
Anyway, I didn’t mention it sooner because I wasn’t sure you’d want to, with the competition tomorrow. ”
Brick raised an eyebrow. “Shooters.”
“Yes.”
He frowned but his eyes held amusement. “You sure that’s your kind of place?”
Blaise laughed. “What do you think my kind of place is? I had a good time at the fish camp, didn’t I?”
“You did,” he said slowly. “But that was definitely not your usual.”
“No, it wasn’t. But I’m adaptable. What kind of place do you think is more my style?”
He shrugged. “I figured you’d be more…wine bar than honkytonk.”
“Ordinarily, maybe,” she said. “But I like music. And I like supporting my friends. Cece’s been very helpful to me. She and I have really become good friends.”
Brick studied her for a moment, then shook his head with a crooked smile. “That part doesn’t surprise me. You’re easy to like.”
She smiled at his compliment, warmth spreading through her. “So what do you say? You want to go?” It would mean appearing as a couple in front of her new friends. She wasn’t sure what he’d think about that.
Brick glanced once more at the counter and the neatly ordered ingredients. Then he looked back at her. “Yeah,” he said. “Let me get my hat.”
Blaise waited as he grabbed a ballcap, this one with the word Ford proudly emblazoned on a patch on the front.
As they headed for the door, Brick paused. “Shooters isn’t exactly a quiet-conversation kind of place.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m all right with that, too.”
He nodded, amused. “Well, then. Lead the way.”
And as Blaise stepped out beside him, she realized how good it felt to say yes to something without overthinking it. Especially when the only thing at stake was a little music and a night out that didn’t need to be anything more.
Because while she and Brick were clearly moving beyond just being friends, she was also just fine with taking things slow.
Joe’s voice reached the parking lot as they were walking up to Shooters.
At least Blaise assumed it was Joe. Who else would be singing?
It sounded nice. Mellow and welcoming and easy to listen to.
Very Jimmy Buffet, which suited what she knew about Joe.
The sound cut through the strip-mall quiet as Brick pulled the bar’s front door open for her.
Inside, the music wrapped around them. Joe’s guitar accompanied his voice, more than loud enough to be heard over the rest of the ambient sounds, although nearly the entire room was half-turned toward the small stage in the corner.
The crowd looked very much like they were enjoying what they were hearing.
Blaise paused just long enough to take it in.
“This is all right,” Brick said, leaning close so she could hear him.
She grinned. “Yes, it is.”
They stepped all the way inside, threading between tables. That was when Paige spotted them.
Her eyes widened, then she laughed with obvious joy and alerted a few of the others. Cece followed her gaze and did a double-take. Maude stopped mid-sentence. Essie’s face lit with delighted surprise.
Oh, good, Blaise thought. We’re the evening’s plot twist.
She lifted a hand in a small wave, and Paige mouthed something that looked suspiciously like, I love this.
Brick glanced around. “That the welcoming committee?”
“More or less,” Blaise said.
They slipped over to the tables, chairs shifting to make room. Paige leaned across to hug her, careful not to jostle her drink.
“Well, I did not have this on my bingo card,” Paige said.
“Neither did he,” Blaise said, tipping her head toward Brick.
“Thank you for coming,” Cece said to Blaise. Then she smiled at Brick. “You picked a good night.”
“So I’m told,” Brick replied. He waved down a waitress and got Blaise a white wine and a beer for himself.
Joe sang on, unbothered by the reunion happening twenty feet away, his foot tapping lightly as he moved into the chorus. Blaise let herself relax, the music filling the small space inside her previously occupied by her worry about tomorrow.
She hadn’t known she needed this, but clearly she had.
A few minutes later, the door opened again. Blaise glanced back. This time it was a tall, familiar man with tired eyes and a purposeful stride.
Maude saw him first. “Ollie!”
He came right over when he spotted the group, surprise flashing across his face before it softened. “Hey, Maudie. Big group, huh?”
“It is. I didn’t think you’d make it,” she said.
“Neither did I.” He pulled a chair from another table and sat next to her.
“Working late?” Blaise asked as he joined them.
“More often than I’d like,” Ollie said. “I was planning to slip in quietly.”
Maude raised an eyebrow. “In this place?”
He smiled and touched her hand, nodding in greeting to the rest of them.
Joe finished the song to generous applause and rolled into the next one without a moment’s hesitation.
This one Blaise knew, Fire And Rain by James Taylor. Most of the people around them seemed to be singing along. She leaned back, Brick’s arm warm against her neck, surrounded by women she trusted and the men who mattered to them.
It wasn’t something she’d experienced in a while, and she realized that she needed more of this. This kind of casual gathering. Time with these friends.
Brick handed her the glass of white wine he’d ordered for her. She took it, then he lifted his bottle of beer in salute. She touched her glass to it, the sound disappearing in the swell around them, and took a drink.
She leaned over to him. “What do you think?”
“It’s all right.”
Which meant he liked it, she thought. “Would you do this again?”
“If you wanted to, yes. Don’t think I would without you, though.”
She smiled. “I like being here with you, too. Thanks for coming with me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“I wasn’t sure. You don’t come off as the most social of men.”
He gave a short nod. “I know. But…I can do better.”
Her brows rose. Was he implying he wanted to do better for her? That was saying something. “I think you’re doing just fine.”
A slow smile bent his mouth. He inched his chair closer to hers and settled back to listen to Joe.
She leaned into him, content in the most wonderful way. Whatever happened tomorrow would be just fine, too. It wasn’t about Brick winning, it was about getting him more involved in life. Like tonight.
And so far, so good.